Brief note before WDW Marathon

I plan on writing a more complete post about my training the last month or so before we head down to WDW. Have a few thoughts about training for a marathon during the winter, the impact a lack of stretching has on my progress, and what's next after the races are done. As we say at work, more to come.


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Thanksgiving

This is my first Thanksgiving since I became vegan and I'm excited about what I will be having for dinner. In an untraditional Thanksgiving Day meal, I'm having vegan enchiladas from Whole Foods with vegan mashed potatoes and apple cranberry quinoa salad. I also have a kale salad with tomatoes, cranberries, and pine nuts. I even got a vegan pumpkin pie.

I'm thankful for my family and friends, as well as the positive changes I have made in my life to stay healthy and happy. Thanks everyone for reading the blog. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving Day for everyone here in the US and a great day for everyone around the world!


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Sometimes it's the shoes

Somehow over the last several weeks, I have gone from having a lot of foot pain to being pain free. I even went to an orthopedic urgent care because my left foot hurt so much. The doctor diagnosed plantar faciitis and said to stretch and keep running (I wasn't going to hurt anything). I do the stretches, when I remember, but I also bought new running shoes (Asics Gel-Nimbus). They seem to have helped do the trick. I don't have pain in either foot. I have lost enough weight (almost 50 lbs.) that the shoes I had been in (Brooks Adrenaline) seemed to be too much shoe for me. I noticed a difference almost immediately with the Asics. Yesterday, I bought two other pairs similar to the Asics (New Balance 1064s and Nike Vomeros) to have a variety of shoes to keep my feet from getting used to one style of shoe. I ran six miles of hill work in the Nikes this morning and my feet felt just fine. I never thought something like changing my shoes would make such a big difference.

6 weeks to Goofy

It's been a strange month for my training, work, and my personal life. Nothing bad has happened, but I've had one of those months where events collide to keep me slightly off balance. I've had a couple of weeks of great running bookending a couple week of not-great to almost-dangerous running, If you've read this blog for at least a year, you know I do not like running in the snow or after a snowfall that hasn't yet been plowed or cleared. I think this is because my first year of training for the WDW Marathon was practically snow-free with decent temperatures every time I went out.

Since then, I've run in what is the typical or normal Minnesota winter weather. I don't mind cold, dressed correctly it's not a big deal (although gels and whatever you're carrying for drink tends to freeze). I've run long runs over ten miles in wind chills between 10 and 20 degrees below zero. I do mind snow - a lot. I still get out and run, but I go slower, I worry about slipping, and I have to watch much more carefully for cars (as do all runners in this kind of weather). I find it hard to focus on the run, which doesn't help get my mind prepped for racing. I use colorful language when stepping in slush puddles, it's just not fun.

That was my long run two weeks ago - I ran twelve miles in a winter storm, which got worse as I ran. It was snowing about an inch an hour, I was out for about two hours and I started the run with about three to four inches on the ground. Saturdays are not priority days to plow residential streets (snow emergency routes were cleared, but not the side streets). It snowed hard enough that on my way back (I did an out and back for the first eight miles), my tracks going out were basically covered. The temperature was around 30 degrees, which meant the snow was heavy and wet. Great snowman weather, but not great running weather. Yes, I know I'm complaining, but with a slight smile - I'm out running, not sitting at home on my butt watching TV. It's a little funny getting covered in snow or frost running in the winter, coming with with my gloves and hat frozen.

Speaking of frozen, last week I had two runs end early due to injuries. My Friday run ended early because my right hip hurt. It felt like the ball and socket weren't fully moving freely. Ouch. Then Saturday, I was in the first few miles of a sixteen mile run when I noticed the fingers of my left hand were tingly and getting numb. It's happened before and gone away, so I thought I'd gut it out. My fingers felt worse as I got about six miles in, basically having gone numb. I was worried I may be getting frostbite, which would be bad on several levels. My main concern was that if I had frostbite, I'd have a heightened sensitivity to cold, not a good thing for a runner in Minnesota. I ended up calling my wife to get me. Between her not finding me and me continuing my run to get home, she never picked me up. I got home as she called, frantically looking for me, I told her where I was and she came home. I finished the run downstairs on our elliptical. My fingers ended up being okay, which is good, of course, but I was having an awesome run when I stopped at home. I was really down all weekend. I did get new running gloves, which I've worn twice now and they have kept my fingers warm and toasty.

Running at Walt Disney World

Last week, my wife, 5-year-old son, and I went to WDW for our annual October trip (this is obviously not the same trip at marathon weekend in January, so yes, we go twice a year). While we were there, my good friend Gordon and his family were there, too. Since we were staying at the same resort, Pop Century, we decided to go running a couple of mornings. So at 5:30 on Tuesday and Thursday, we set out on 8 mile runs. We ran around Pop Century and ventured out onto the access road to take a back way into the Caribbean Beach resort and ran around that huge resort a couple of times before heading back to Pop. Both runs were great, good paces for both of us. Gordon is training for a marathon in mid-November (as well as Goofy in January) and I didn't want to disrupt his training. He was able to do a recovery-type week of training, though, so a couple of runs would fit into our different pacing. I thought the runs would stretch me a bit, but oddly it didn't as much as I thought it would. To me that means one thing - I can go faster in training and in races, but I'm not. I'm not sure why I'm not pushing myself as much as I could. I certainly don't want to re-injure myself, but I feel I could go faster longer.

So I've decided to take a page from Gordon's training (with his approval, of course) and do workouts similar to his workouts, rather than the same basic training I've done the last four years for the Disney marathons. I can, and will, push harder. Carefully, to be sure, but still extending the comfort zone to become faster for longer distance, training to be able to dig deep for the reserves I'll build up when I need them coming out of Animal Kingdom and facing a 6-7 mile stretch of boring flat roads and two themes all compressed at the end of the marathon course.

Tempo, distance, endurance, speed all will be my focus for the next eleven weeks. Those ideas and core work, something I've sorely neglected in past years. With my weight loss (down to 179 lbs. last weight check before we left on vacation), I should be taking advantage of the opportunity to keep losing more weight and getting stronger at the same time. I can, and will do these things, as I have goals beyond the 2011 WDW Marathon weekend and they involve a little race in a town called Boston before I turn 50 years old. I've got 5 years, I can do it. I will do it.

So I'm running across the bridge when . . .

This past weekend, my wife, son, and I went to Duluth. My wife and I met there while attending the University of Minnesota-Duluth twenty-three years ago tomorrow. We love Duluth and used to go up for a weekend every year after we moved back to Minnesota from our years in grad school in Indiana. It was a lot of fun and our son loves going to the shore of Lake Superior and throwing rocks into the lake. A good time had by all. Well, most of the time was good.

Saturday morning I ran 8 miles. Not a big deal any longer, nothing special, just a good 8 mile run to start the day. We were staying in Canal Park, which is a tourist-sort of area on Lake Superior, just off downtown Duluth. Part of the appeal of Canal Park is its proximity to the Aerial Lift Bridge, used by residents of Park Point, the 7 mile long sand bar jutting out from the city into the lake. The bridge allows access to and from Park Point, but, as its name suggests, will lift up to allow freighters, sailboats, and Coast Guard cutters to pass from the port to the lake or vice versa. It can take three minutes for the bridge to lift about 200 feet. It can take several minutes for a large freighter to pass through the canal and under the bridge.

Needless to say, the bridge is not something you want to be crossing when it is supposed to go up. Like I was crossing on my way back to the hotel finishing my run. There is a loudspeaker announcement that the bridge will be raised and clear the area. I was about 2/3 of the way across when I heard the bells go off and the voice telling me the bridge was about to go up, possibly with me on it. I sprinted, fast. I made it off the bridge, although the bridge operator scolded me on the loudspeaker, telling me to stop running. Right, I'll just do that and you'll have an hysterical 45-year old man who's afraid of heights, doesn't trust bridges, and can't swim standing on a hunk of metal rising up on 80 year old equipment (I know it's been updated, but the idea holds). I didn't look back as I came off the bridge, although I did walk to catch my breath. The rest of my run, all 4/10 of mile of it were uneventful.

I kind of wish I'd been running during my years in school there, I might not have panicked so much. Nah, I would have no matter what.

Why I run

So, it's been a month since the last update and I'm basically recovered from the adductor injury earlier this summer. I'm now wrapping up a base training program before starting my 2011 Goofy Challenge training on Labor Day. I've had a couple of really good sessions and a couple of not-so-good sessions in the last week, so I think I have to get re-focused on why I run.

I run because it makes me feel good, not only physically, but mentally. Running can clear your mind or order your thoughts. Being outside in the early morning thinking or not thinking is one of the best ways to start your day. Knowing that you're outside doing something physical while most people are still asleep or just waking up is a great feeling, like you've accomplished a lot before your day really starts. Even on the days when my workout doesn't go as well as I'd like, I still feel like I've gotten a jump on the day, a kick-start to whatever I have to do that day. Some days, I get such a rush from getting a run in before heading to work that the day just flies by and before I know it, it's time to go home.

I run because sometimes I need to check out mentally and just go. Putting one foot in front of the other for several miles without really thinking about it can be a great way to re-charge the brain battery or flush out the cerebral junk that has built up like a gunk deposit on an engine. Once I start running, I don't really think about anything in particular and the next time I focus on the here and now, I've gone a good distance and have rejuvenated myself.

I run because I know that if I stop running, I will slip back into habits that caused me to miss out on many things I could have done when I was younger. Before I ran, I would walk for exercise, but mainly walk to relieve stress, often self-induced stress, that needed a release. Then I would go home and eat poorly. I thought nothing of this pattern of behavior and by July of 2001, I found myself weighing about 240 lbs. and basically unhappy with myself. I started working out and lost 40 lbs. by late October of 2001. I maintained that lifestyle (adding running in early 2003) until this past January, when I realized that I need another kick in the butt. I changed my lifestyle again, becoming first vegetarian and now vegan, which allowed me to lose 40 lbs again, so that I weigh 185 today. I have more to lose and a great reason to keep running. Combined with my new lifestyle and good eating habits, I can not only lose the rest of the weight I want to lose, but keep it off and stay healthy for my family.

I run because it's the only physical activity I have done in my life that I can honestly say "I can do better" and believe that is the case. I use to play golf, but I don't much any more because I didn't care much whether I got better or not. I wasn't very good at team sports as a kid, although I played baseball and basketball, but knew I wasn't going to be a pro at either sport. I still love baseball, but as a fan, and that's just fine with me. Running is different. I know that soon, my body will peak and I'll have to be content with whatever running I get to do, but right now? Well, I want to BQ, hopefully before I'm 50, which means I have 5 years to achieve that goal. Will I? I don't know, I want to and plan to, but tomorrow is not promised to anyone, so I can only do what I can today to make my dreams come true.

I run because I have found great friends who also run, who are very encouraging, who know what it's like to go out for a training run in the dark, in the rain, in the heat, or in the snow to prepare for a race they more than likely won't win, but still will run as hard as they can to do the best that they can. Knowing that I have friends that will support each other through injuries, bad runs, great races, and recovery times allows me to feel included, which is something I don't normally feel.

I run because it's just good clean fun (well, except in the rain or after a snowfall!) and I encourage everyone to at least try it for a while and see what a difference it makes in your health, your attitude, and your life.

Recovery update

It's been a while since the last update, so I thought I'd drop a quick note. I found out a couple of weeks ago that what the doctor thought was a stress fracture of my right pubic bone was instead adductor tendonitis. Still not great, but I was cleared to start a walk/run cycle to gradually work up to full running. It's been going well, I still have a little soreness, but not nearly as bad as it was before I saw the doctor. I also started going to a chiropractor, which is helping a lot, too. I do stretches now (something I hadn't done in seven years of running before the injury) and I'm much better about cross training on the elliptical and biking. All in all, it's not going so badly, although I'm getting itchy to run again.

Stress fracture = detour

So a few weeks ago, I went to the doctor to check on the pain in my right groin. After a couple of x-rays and a few pokes, prods, and pushes, I was diagnosed with a stress fracture on the right side of my pubic bone. It's somewhat uncommon, but happens to runners who overtrain. I did. Upon reflection, I'm surprised I didn't do worse damage. I was told no running for 3 weeks, biking and elliptical were okay, and come back pain-free or the doctor would have to do an MRI to see if anything else was wrong. So, I've been on the elliptical (which you can see from the dailymile updates on the right) and biking (more on that in a bit).

I'm a bit disappointed that this happened, although I know I could have done worse damage from my overtraining. I realize what I probably did that contributed to most of the problem. Since March, I had run outside 4 days a week, running faster each week as I lost weight. Even on my long runs, I pushed to go faster. The Get in Gear Half-Marathon in April and the Minneapolis Marathon in June were PR runs for me, which is great, but training to set those PRs caused me to overdo it. A lot. I had planned on a 4 week recovery from the Minneapolis Marathon before starting a summer of base training in preparation for the WDW Marathon Weekend training I had planned to start on Labor Day. The last four years, I had started my marathon training on Labor Day, as it worked out schedule-wise to do so. This year, provided I'm cleared to run by Labor Day, I'll move into my training, but be much smarter about it.

Currently, I am doing 3 days of elliptical and 1 day of cycling (on Saturday, in lieu of my long run). I plan to keep at least one day of elliptical and the cycling day in my training schedule, with 3-4 days of running. Of course, as the weather changes in the fall and winter, I'll probably only get outside 1-2 days a week and that will only help me. I'm increasing my core work and weight training to a level that is about where it should have been months ago (never been good about keeping up the core work). I'm going to stretch now, too. I also saw a chiropractor last week, who wants to see me a couple more times to adjust my right side, and she will also give me some stretches to do, too.

Part of me is very frustrated that I kept pushing, but I really enjoyed getting out early in the morning to go for my runs. Even the two weeks of recovery runs I did seemed to go well, except, of course, for the pain in my right upper thigh area, as I referred to it on dailymile and Twitter. I know now that I have to be much more careful so that I can run for many years. The more I pay attention to my body, the better I will run, and the more I will enjoy getting to run.

Minneapolis Marathon reflections

I did not realize it’s been over a month since my last post. Yikes! I certainly didn’t intend to go this long between posts. I could say that I’ve been incredibly busy with work, training, family, etc. Or I could just say that the free time I’ve had lately has been devoted to trying to relax, usually by reading or watching something on TV. Not the best explanation, I know, but I feel like I’ve been on autopilot lately and need to recharge when I can.

On Sunday, June 6, I ran the Minneapolis Marathon and set a new PR of 4:54. My old PR was 5:17, set on my first marathon back in 2007 at Walt Disney World. A 23 minute improvement is nothing to complain about and I’m not, but I could have potentially cut even more time off, if it weren’t for the hills on the last 9 miles of the course. The route is very scenic, running along the Mississippi River for a good portion of the race and through a state park for a fair stretch. It was just really hilly getting down and then getting back up through the state park portion of the race. The weather was beautiful and the course volunteers and water stops were wonderful, but I didn’t get a good feel during this race. I’m not sure if I’ll run this marathon again (I’d do the half-marathon again – I did it last year and would be better prepared for it next time). If the course were reversed, I’d consider doing it again, but I’m not sure that is possible the course will change. I think many runners may find it challenging to run this race, but I also get the feeling that's what the race organizers intend.

As you can see, the course is a touch on the hilly side!

There are other marathons in Minnesota, of course, but Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth is a logistical problem for me and the Twin Cities Marathon is in October, usually the weekend we go to Walt Disney World (around my wedding anniversary). I may stick to running half-marathons here and do the full marathon (or Goofy Challenge) at Disney.

I’m in recovery mode for another week or so and then I begin a base training period before starting my training on Labor Day for the Goofy Challenge. Like I did when I ran it in 2009, I plan to share my training throughout the weeks leading up to the race. It should be more fun this time because I know what to expect and I’ll be joining many friends I’ve made on Twitter, Facebook, and Daily Mile who will also be running that weekend.